Donald Trump leads his GOP presidential rivals by 34 points in California ahead of the state’s primary on June 7, according to a poll released Monday. Trump is at 54 percent support, followed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 20 percent and Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 16 percent, according to the SurveyUSA poll published by ABC7. All three candidates spoke at the state GOP convention over the weekend, and California is the final major state with delegates needed to secure the GOP nomination up for grabs. Trump and Cruz are campaigning in Indiana on the eve of that state’s primary. Trump’s…

Scientists say they now have a near-perfect picture of the genetic events that cause breast cancer. The study, published in Nature, has been described as a “milestone” moment that could help unlock new ways of treating and preventing the disease. The largest study of its kind unpicked practically all the errors that cause healthy breast tissue to go rogue. Cancer Research UK said the findings were an important stepping-stone to new drugs for treating cancer. To understand the causes of the disease, scientists have to understand what goes wrong in our DNA that makes healthy tissue turn cancerous. The international…

The Proton-M rocket, carrying the ExoMars 2016 spacecraft to Mars, blasts off from the launchpad at the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, March 14, 2016. REUTERS/SHAMIL ZHUMATOV The second stage of a joint European-Russian mission to search for signs of life on Mars has been delayed from 2018 to 2020, the European Space Agency and Russia’s Roscosmos said on Monday. The new planned launch date for the second ExoMars mission was July 2020, Interfax news agency cited state-run Roscosmos as saying. It will incorporate a Russian-led surface platform and European-led rover, to be launched from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan. The decision…

Billionaire Charles Koch said earlier this year he was unimpressed with the anti-Muslim rhetoric used by Donald Trump. Photograph: Paul Sancya/AP Key conservative groups backed by the billionaire Koch brothers and their network of rich allies are plowing millions into Senate races after becoming frustrated by the overheated rhetoric and policies of leading Republican presidential candidates – especially frontrunner Donald Trump – and opting to stay out of the primaries. Three leading groups – Americans for Prosperity, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, and Concerned Veterans for America – supported by the Koch donor network spent almost $4m on ads in just…

Pierre Moscovici has been leading EU efforts on tax transparency. Photograph: Laurent Dubrule/EPA Britain is under growing pressure to end its opposition to an EU blacklist of tax havens, as the European commission vowed to step up action on tax transparency following the leak of the Panama Papers. Pierre Moscovici, the European commissioner in charge of tax policy, said he was outraged by the revelations in the leak of 11.5m files from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The extent of illegal activity was unclear, he told journalists in Brussels, but much of it was “clearly immoral, unethical and simply unacceptable”….

Pope Francis is not expected to grant remarried Catholics the right to take holy communion. Photograph: SIPA/Rex/Shutterstock Pope Francis is likely to disappoint Catholic reformists on Friday with the publication of his views on family life, which observers predict will not change church doctrine on divorcees and gay people, despite presenting a more open approach. The Amoris Laetitia (Joy of Love) document, known as an apostolic exhortation, follows a two-year consultation with bishops to determine how the church should address the challenges facing modern families. Francis is expected to adopt a positive tone and welcoming approach to Catholics who do not fit the…

The prime minister of Iceland has resigned – the first major casualty of the Panama Papers leaks which have shed an embarrassing spotlight on the world of offshore finance. The leaks, from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, showed PM Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson owned an offshore company, Wintris, with his wife. He was accused of concealing millions of dollars worth of family assets. A big protest was held in front of parliament in Iceland on Monday. Reports suggest the agriculture minister will be the new PM. Dozens of high-profile global figures are named in the huge Mossack Fonseca leak. Mr Gunnlaugsson had…

A UN soldier watches a man washing in a Haitian refugee camp. Sewage dispoal was so poor at UN military bases that it threatened to ‘damage the reputation of the mission’. Photograph: Andres Martinez Casares/EPA The UN denies its peacekeepers caused the epidemic that killed thousands but a 2010 report details sewage being dumped in the open and a lack of toilets The United Nations uncovered serious sanitation failures in its Haiti peacekeeping mission just a month after a deadly cholera outbreak erupted in the country, killing thousands, a leaked report has revealed. The UN has consistently refused to accept that it is…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi exchange documents during a news conference following their meeting in Moscow, Russia, March 11, 2016. REUTERS/MAXIM SHEMETOV Russia and China told North Korea on Friday its nuclear ambitions were unacceptable, urging Pyongyang to resume talks over its nuclear weapons program and heed a U.N. Security Council resolution banning ballistic missile tests. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stepped up pressure on Pyongyang after holding talks in Moscow a day after North Korea defied the United Nations by firing two short-range ballistic missiles into…